Technology

Google Glass 2 Might Be in the Works

Smartwatches aren’t the only form of wearable computing, or wearable consumer electronics. Also riding the wave of new and innovative post-PC devices that could be worn by their users is Google, which has long made Google Glass official but has yet to release it to the public. Though, polarizing and, in fact, offensive for select individuals with privacy-related concerns, Google Glass is still a very anticipated product from the search engine giant, even as its originally expected late-2013 release date has been pushed back to mid-2014.

Even with the not-so-slight delay, there’s no shortage of potential early adopters willing to pay a premium amount of money to be among the first to purchase Glass. With the product is still months away from debuting, a report from MIT’s Technology Review suggests that Google may be making plans for a follow-up wearable device, Glass 2, while having some high hopes for wearable computing in general as the wave of the future.

According to the report, Google X Labs display division head Mary Lou Jepsen had some interesting remarks about different forms of wearable computing devices, as she spoke at the EmTech expo last week. Aside from dropping several hints regarding Google’s rumored smartwatch product, Jepsen also talked about Google Glass and its potential successor, though she was a bit coy in not revealing much information.

Jepsen said at the expo that the Google X team has been “maybe sleeping three hours a night to bring the technology forward,” and the second version of Glass may be out sometime next year. With that in mind, that makes a Glass follow-up a good possibility for the latter part of 2014.

All this adds up to one thing, even as Google declined to really deep-dive into the topic of wearable computing – Google is high on these types of devices, and is working around the clock to get the technology up to speed. The company has recently been rumored to be debuting its Nexus Smartwatch at an October 31 launch event, which may also see Google revealing the Nexus 5 smartphone, a new Nexus 10 tablet and Android 4.4 Kit Kat.